Learning to fly

Her signature song is 'Broken Wing,' but Sydney Lambert's vocal talents could have her flying high very soon

Jason Hunsicker @JHunsicker_KDE @jhunsicker_kde

Her left arm reaches toward the sky as she holds the final note, her voice soaring to the conclusion of the song "Broken Wing."

The crowd erupts in cheers. A broad smile breaks out on the singer's face.

Martina McBride? On most nights, yes, but on this night in Oct. 2012, the note, the cheers, the smile all belonged to someone else.

Kirksville's Sydney Lambert.

The 16-year-old soon-to-be high school junior has been entertaining audiences since age 8 and winning competitions since a year later. She nearly reached the final audition stages for NBC's "The Voice" and this summer will open for country star Dustin Lynch at the NEMO Fair.

Not a bad resume so far for someone with little training in a world where many are chasing the same dream.

Lambert, like many kids, was always singing songs around the house growing up. "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" was a favorite as she put on shows for her older sister and friends from atop a laundry basket, hairbrush-microphone in hand. When she was 8 she earned the role of Mrs. Claus and a solo singing slot in the Kirksville Primary School Christmas show.

Afterward, her teacher told her parents, Jim and Susan, some voice lessons might help their daughter's blossoming talent. It was some confirmation of the idea Sydney might have a special gift.

A year later she entered the KY3 Youth Talent contest at the Ozark Empire Fair. Singing "Popular" from the musical "Wicked" she won first place and $375. That win encouraged voice lessons with a Truman State graduate student and entry into the SEMO Fair Heartland Idol contest. At age 10, Lambert was the youngest competitor in her division, but her performance of "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid" catapulted her above her peers.

Most of all, it provided a new level of confidence.

"I was like, 'maybe I could really do this,'" Lambert said. "Somebody thinks that I'm good, and I had a lot of fun doing it."

Since then there have been more shows and more wins, including Missouri Farm Bureau Teen Talent winner at 14 and NEMO Fair Idol winner last year. More shows and more chances to perform mean more opportunities for Lambert to get that big break.

"It's a lot of fun. Sometimes I think it feels like more fun than it probably should," she said. "It gives you a rush, especially when you're performing. There's no more adrenaline than being on stage in front of hundreds of people and having them cheer for you."

While her older sister, Stephanie, was in the school choir, the only other family stage connection is a longstanding tradition of showing cattle. Her grandparents showed cattle since they were children, her mother did, too, as a child, and it is among the few activities aside from singing and softball Lambert truly enjoys.

"That's a lot of fun," she said. "You get a connection with your animals, you definitely do. You get to go in there and smile and pet your fluffy cow. They're so fluffy. Show cows are very fluffy."

While her interest in agriculture might not seem connected to advancing her musical ambitions, her FFA membership did allow her to sing at the Missouri FFA Convention in Columbia and at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. In the latter, she performed "Broken Wing" at Banker's Life Fieldhouse and sang the National Anthem in front of 55,000 people at LucasOil Stadium.

"Broken Wing" could be considered her signature song. She first performed it at the state FFA convention in the Hearnes Center.

"By the first chorus people were going nuts," she said. "Mom said there were people dancing when I was singing and standing up and cheering really, really loud. I had a standing ovation.

"That was really, really cool for me, because I don't think I ever had a standing ovation from a crowd that big."

Last year the family traveled to Chicago, where Lambert joined 6,000 hopefuls at a preliminary audition for "The Voice," an NBC television singing competition featuring popular artists like Blake Shelton, Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera, who serve as coaches for the contestants.

She spent four hours in line for a chance to sing for 30 seconds in a room with four other hopefuls and one man holding the key to the next round.

Her choice of song? "Broken Wing."

"The man who was sitting at the desk stopped me when I was done and said, 'Sing something else for me, please.' And I sang 'My Wish' by Rascal Flatts for him and he said, 'Thank you, thank you very much.'

Everyone else finished singing and I got up to leave, and he said, 'You, come here,' and I went over and talked to him. He asked me how old I was and the things I like to sing and he said, 'Do you want this?' And I said, 'Yes.'"

He handed her a callback ticket and two days later she was singing on camera in a Chicago recording studio.

She received another callback, completed an on-camera interview and was later notified she was being considered for an executive callback.

"If they had contacted us again we would have had to fly to L.A. [for the show]," she said.

That next call didn't come, but the experience was valuable.

"You realize what little of chance you have. You have such a small, small chance, and whenever you go into that room you have to give it absolutely everything that you have because you have one chance to get noticed," she said.

Lisa Archer, who serves as something of an adviser and vocal coach for Lambert, believes the local teen has what it takes to eventually get noticed and go all the way.

"Sydney has very natural vocal talent and I'm already seeing signs of a good business sense that makes me think she could do very well in the music industry," said Archer, who works at Northeast Regional Medical Center. She and her husband, Marty, toured for 25 years with their two best friends in a Gospel quartet called "Living Sacrifice." They recorded 20 albums in Nashville before retiring in 2008.

"I work with her about once every week or two and she's not afraid to try new things, which impresses me.

It's easy to create some bad habits in singing and if you want to have a career in singing, you have to learn proper techniques," Archer said.

Most of all, Archer is impressed with Lambert's "hunger" to sing, noting Sydney doesn't miss an opportunity to let her voice go free.

"That's the kind of spirit it takes to succeed in the music industry," Archer said.

Lambert, a country music fanatic, has also written several of her own songs, including "Yes You Do," which she wrote about a relationship she had with a boy she met at the National FFA Convention. She posted an audio clip of that of that piece on her Facebook page last week and plans to perform it during her NEMO Fair performance.

She started writing songs in eighth grade when she was taking guitar lessons, using some "homemade chords" at first because she "wanted to play so bad."

"My fingers would turn purple whenever I would practice," she said.

Her parents serve as the initial sounding board for her creations.

"Usually I'm most nervous whenever I go play it for them," said Sydney.

"Because I'm usually the most critical," Susan replied.

"I'm proud of her, and I want her to know that. I want to encourage her, but yet I want her to keep trying," Susan said.

Sydney understands and appreciates any criticism.

"She doesn't over-encourage me because she doesn't want me to get too confident, because when you're over-confident you stop trying. Your best work comes out when you try. I don't ever want to be that person who slacks off. I always want to get better. I always want to be better than I am right now," she said.

She has plenty of chances to practice. Lambert is also in the Kirksville Choir and Chamber Choir, with practices daily at 7:15 p.m. during the school year. She'll also audition for the high school musical.

In addition to preparing her set list for the Fair, Lambert hopes to gain support online in the FMC Agricultural Products Stand and Be Heard Anthem Singing Contest. She submitted a video of her performing the National Anthem and will challenge others for votes at FMCcrop.com from July 1-14. Finalists earn a $5,000 scholarship and a paid trip to Nashville for a recording session, while the grand prize winner also receives a $10,000 scholarship.

For Lambert, who has been to Nashville once before and had a chance to sing at the famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge, a return trip would be a dream come true.

"That would be awesome," she said.

And perhaps it would lead to the chance she's hoping to get as she watches her favorite country artists on stage.

"Every single time I go to a concert," she said, "I look up on stage and think, 'I could do that. I really want to do that so bad.'"

To hear Sydney Lambert, visit her Facebook page at facebook.com/sydneylambertmusic, or go to her website at www.sydneylambertmusic.com.